Below please find predictions for tilapia market trends and growth by Kevin Fitzsimmonds. The predictions are slightly skewed in terms of focusing on the Americas but there is still a lot of relevance to our local markets.

Regards

Frans

• By 2015, total production in the Americas will increase to 500,000 t/y;

• Sex-reversed O. niloticus will account for the majority of tilapia production;

• Genetically male tilapia and all-male hybrids will provide a majority of fingerlings;

• O. aureus and O. mossambicus will be used only to create hybrids;

• Red strains will account for 20–30% of all tilapia produced;

• Most tilapia fingerlings will come from intensive hatchery/nursery operations;

• Intensive ponds will provide 50% of production;

• Large scale cage operations will provide 20–30% of production;

• Indoor recirculating systems will provide 10% of production;

• Nutrition will improve with FCR’s approaching 1.0;

• Mexico and Brazil will be the major producers and major consumers in the Americas;

• US will be the 3rd largest producer in the Americas, 3rd largest consumer in the Americas, and the largest importer;